The relationship between emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and clinical decision-making among critical care nurses in Jordan

Nurses with high self-efficacy and emotional intelligence can provide effective clinical decision-making, which could influence the quality of healthcare. Also, there is a lack of studies about these variables in Arab countries including Jordan. Thus, this study purposed to assess the relationship between emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and clinical decision-making among critical care nurses in Jordan. A descriptive correlational design was conducted on a sample of 407 nurses who work in critical care units in government, private, and educational health hospitals. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire during the period from March to May 2022. The results revealed that the participants' mean scores of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and clinical decision-making were as follows: M = 5.22 (SD +/- 0.18), M = 3.71 (SD +/- 0.481), and M = 3.88 (SD +/- 0.518), respectively, which reflected high levels of these variables. Emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, age, and marital status were positively correlated with clinical decision-making (beta = 0.218, p < .001; beta = 0.328, p < .001; beta = 0.182, p = .01; beta = 0.092, p < .05, respectively). Self-efficacy had the greatest association with clinical decision-making (T-Statistics = 6.37). Therefore, it is important to encourage and continuously implement strategies for critical care nurses to enhance their emotional intelligence and self-efficacy, and take into consideration age and marital status to improve their clinical decision-making skills to provide high-quality patient care. The main practical contribution originates from improving emotional intelligence and self-efficacy may increase the critical care nurses' competencies in clinical decision-making, which will reflect positively on nurses' health and patients' outcomes.